Newest U.S. warship breaks down, has to be towed 45 miles to shore

Milwaukee being towed to shore on December 11th, 2015. Credit: Mike Morones

The newest ship of the U.S, coast guard Milwaukee, is out in the open sea. Now the ship must be towed back to the naval base in Virginia. The ship was commissioned just 20 days ago. This was reported by the Navy Times publication.

Milwaukee had departed from a Canadian port in Halifax to California's port in San Diego when the accident occurred However, according to the publication, the problems with the vehicle began as soon as it left the shore. Specialists had independently repaired the ship several times beforehand.

The preliminary reason of failure – intake of metal particles in the oil filter that passed into the engine of the ship.

The American government is already aware of the situation. The incident drew comment from the Chairman of the Senate Committee of the US Congress Armed Services Committee, John McCain. He called the situation alarming when a vehicle breaks down after a couple of weeks after launch.

"The message about the damage to Milwaukee is deeply disturbing, especially considering that this ship was commissioned 20 days ago. I'm sure the US Navy will conduct a thorough investigation of the reasons for this failure," said McCain.

This is not the first case when USA shipbuilding experiments have ended in failure. Recently, American shipbuilders were finally able to finalise the construction of the first ship of a new fleet of destroyers, project Zumwalt. Experts, assessing the new project of the U.S. Navy, noted primarily the weak arms and low functionality of the ship.